Take Me Home To My Heart
by fivelfleurhavens
Summary: One day, they are all together in the same place. And then the next day, they all go their separate ways. /One-Shot


Author Note: Woohoo! Another one-shot. :) Hip hip hooray! So I came up with this idea of the PS characters as adults and I felt like writing about it. You know, when I was correcting my spelling errors, I actually noticed how long this one-shot actually was. Over 3,000 words. Holy shiitake! But oh well, I'm freakin' proud of myself! :) And by the way, a poem actually came out of this story. It's going to be posted on FictionPress if you're interested in reading it.  
>P.S. I kind of gave a little shoutout in this one-shot to my two friends, Alison and Jinny. The characters look <em>nothing<em> like my friends, but I thought it would be fun. And, this one-shot actually has **my** name in it. And no, it's not Anna/Annie. :p First one to guess, well you get a virtual hug and an imaginary pat on the back from me. :)

Contains: Cursing  
>Disclaimer: I do not own PS. If I did, well, I wouldn't even be on FanFiction. :p<p>

* * *

><p><em>One day, they are all together in the same place.<em>

_And then the next day, they all go their separate ways._

_._

The warm, Nevada day was suddenly cooled by a gentle wind that swept the twenty-two year old girl's blonde hair in her face. She tucked the strand back behind her ear and slowly walked toward the old, white ranch house in anticipation.

Jennifer Kenworthy, who now went by Jenny, had just finished her college education at Harvard and had come back to Nevada to start her life. There was no doubt that she had gotten a good education and loved her life, but going to one of the best colleges in the country came with a price. Not money wise because she had received a scholarship, but relationship wise. Her best friend Sam had been heartbroken when she had found out her best friend was leaving. Jen had talked to her about it and she figured out that Sam had been accepted into a college right there in Nevada, but around that time, her family had had a money dilemma and Sam had to cancel her plans for college.

Jen had felt bad for her, but she had promised that they would keep in touch.

And she now felt guilty because _they never did keep in touch._

.

When the icy blue eyed girl knocks on the front door, she can honestly say that she's afraid of what her once best friend would say to her.

_She's going to be so pissed._

When the red headed woman opened the door, Jen smiled and asked, "Hi Brynna, is Sam here? I need to talk to her."

"It's nice to see you again Jen." Brynna smiled sadly at her. "I'm sorry...I guess Sam didn't tell you. She moved to Tennessee about a year ago."

"Really, why?" I asked, trying to keep the shock out of my voice. "She moved there in hopes to start her photography career. Sam's doing really good though. She's actually won some competitions."

Jenny can only smile.

_She's so proud that her once friend is becoming someone._

.

She sits in a plush chair in the bookstore at the mall reading an old book called _Black Like Me_ on the next Friday. The girl with the black framed glasses is so consumed in the book that she almost didn't hear the angelic voice coming from the music store right next door.

And it sounds _so familiar_ that she just has to go check it out. She puts the book back on the shelf and she walks over to the music store that she has never been in.

The walls are painted a dark red color and there are music posters everywhere. She passes the acoustic guitars and the keyboards and then she finally sees where the voice is coming from. Ally McClintock ,her once classmate, was singing on the small stage.

But why was _she_ singing here in Reno's only mall? Allison McClintock, or as she's known by her stage name, Ally Dean, was a household name. A country singer, an aspiring actress. Why was she _here_?

While Jenny was standing there in the back of the small crowd in the music store, Ally finished singing the old song that Jenny knew was called _Natural Woman_ and made her way off the small stage to the small table just a few feet away. She saw how every person in the store had different pictures of Ally in their hands. And then she knew; autograph signing.

The blue eyed girl made her way through the crowd until she was right in front of the table that Ally was sitting at.

"Well, I don't have a picture of you, but I'm fine if you write on my arm!" Ally looked up in surprise and squealed so loud that every person in line jumped. Jenny's once friend got up in shock and hugged her.

_And just like that, a forgotten friendship starts up again between the songstress and the genius._

.

Fifteen days pass after the autograph signing and they're now in Hollywood at Ally's apartment.

_Well it is summer, they can go wherever they want to._

.

On Jenny's second day in Hollywood, there's a thunderstorm. So the two girls decide to stay in and have movie night. More like a Harry Potter movie marathon.

An hour into _Chamber of Secrets, _Ally's mind seems to drift away from the plot line as she suddenly asks, "What ever happened between you and Ryan?" Jen's eyes stray away from the television screen and onto Ally in surprise. Why would she ask this all of a sudden?

"Um...we broke about two years ago. The 'long distance relationship' thing wasn't working out. Why do you ask?" Ally looked down and picked at her nails for the longest minute. Then she looked Jen straight in the eye and said in a monotone voice, "I need to tell you something."

She took a second to collect her thoughts. "After you and Ryan broke up, we sort of dated for awhile." Jen's eyes widened and she sputtered out a shocked, "What? How?"

"Well it was around the time that I was trying to start my music career. I was singing in church this one Sunday and Ryan was there. He saw me singing and he offered to help me...and since he had the money, I thought what the heck!"

"So you accepted his help because of his money?" Ally sighed. "No Jen, it wasn't about the money! I needed help with my career and he needed to get out of Nevada. The breakup really hurt him and he just needed a fresh start. So we came to Hollywood and somewhere along the way of starting my music career, we dated. But it was only for a few months, nothing serious."

Jen was silent.

_Wow. A lot had happened while she was away at Harvard._

.

"Do you still keep in touch with Ryan?"

Ally looks up from her plate of eggs and toast. She nods. The blue eyed girl tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and asks, "Can we visit him?"

The songstress nods and right before Jen gets up from the small kitchen table to get ready, Ally quietly says, "But you're not going to like what you see."

_What's that supposed to mean?_

.

The two girls stand there quietly looking like normal people. No one in the quiet hospital would suspect that they were the _oh-so smart blonde _and_ the oh-so talented brunette._

For once, Jenny has no words to describe the scene in front of her. He's asleep on the hospital bed and she can hear monitors beeping.

_Ryan Slocum was never supposed to get cancer._

.

"Ally, how long has he been like this?"

Hazel eyes looked into her blue orbs and she quietly said, "Four months...they don't think he has much time left."

Jen looks down at the hospital cafeteria table as tears start to form in her eyes.

She'll never admit it to Ally, but she still truly cares for him

.

The next day, Jen is back at the hospital. This time, without Ally. She needs to tell him before the worst happens. She stops in front of his hospital room and enters.

The first thing she sees is dark brown eyes staring right at her. "Um, hey Rachel."

The dark haired beauty stays silent as she slowly gets up from the uncomfortable metal chair, walks past Jen, and leaves the room.

_Was Rachel actually crying?_

Jenny walks over and sits in Rachel's chair. She stays silent as she sees that Ryan is awake and has been watching her the entire time. Before she can say a word, he's chuckling.

"Why are you laughing?" she asks. He sits up in the twin sized bed and his eyes lock with hers as he says in the now fading British accent, "I never really thought I would see you again. You look great, Jennifer."

She averts her eyes to the tiled floor and she can't help herself. For the first time in years, Jennifer Kenworthy _truly sobs_. Her ex-boyfriend takes her hand and quietly says, "Come here."

She sits on the edge of his hospital bed and sobs into his shoulder. He can feel the salty water seep through his hospital gown and onto his bare shoulder. Minutes pass and Jen states something that she's been wanting to say since the day she broke up with him.

_"I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Please forgive me..."_

He pulls back and gently kisses her on her forehead. And Jen knows that she's finally forgiven.

.

Exactly six days later, Jen decides that it's time to go visit one friend that she _needs_ to talk to. Ally doesn't mind. Besides, there's one person that Ally needs to see too.

Their separate flights are scheduled to leave in two days.

While they're packing their things to go to two different states, they hear a knock on the door. Ally finishes folding her favorite electric blue shirt and answers the door to -

"Rachel..." The girl standing in the doorway hugs Ally and she's sobbing. Based on the bags underneath Rachel's eyes and her unwashed hair and her lifeless skin, Jen knows what happened. Suddenly, Jen is crying and for the first time, she hugs Rachel.

For the first time, her and Rachel, of all people, _finally_ _have a bond._

.

Her flight is on a Thursday. But there is one other thing that she and Ally need to do that same day before they leave California.

They attend a funeral. It's a small one, only about twenty people attend. But Rachel said that her brother wanted something _simple_ for once.

When his funeral is over, Jen cries.

.

The two girls fly off in different directions after the funeral.

Ally flies back to Nevada to visit someone that she forgot to visit only a few weeks ago.

Jenny flies all the way to Tennessee.

.

When the young brunette finally arrived back in Nevada, she payed the usual fee for a used rental car and she drives back to the old car shop that she use to pay visits to when her dad would get into his 'weekly fender bender'. Her dad was never a good driver, but for one reason and for one reason only, she loved to visit the old car shop.

She still remembers her first visit there.

..

_She sighs as her dad slowly drives the beat up car into the car shop's small parking lot. He quietly curses under his breath and gets out to talk to the owner about his fender bender. _

_"Some dumbass braked all of a sudden. Ruined my day completely! I was wondering if you could fix the bender for me." The car shop owner nods politely. She gets out of the car at the same time her dad pulls out his cell phone and calls her uncle for a ride home. _

_The visit didn't last long, but it made young Ally's day because she made a friend. The owner's son._

..

The old memory faded as she walked in the main office of the car shop. She spotted her old friend and classmate sitting at his small desk signing paperwork. Ally knocked on the wall of the building to make her presence known.

His gray eyes looked up expecting a customer, but he was mistaken as he looked into the eyes of the girl that had disappeared a few years ago.

"Hi Darrell. Long time, no see."

He could only smile as he quickly got up and indulged her in a hug.

.

After finally landing in Tennessee, she payed the price for an old rental car and slowly drove to the address that Wyatt had gladly given to her. Her old friend was now renting a room in a small house in the quiet city of Auburntown.

Jenny parked the car on the side of the paved street and walked up to the house. It was very beautiful. The house was painted a soft yellow, had a basic white front door, and had flowers of every color in the garden. She knocked on the white-wooden door and took a deep breath as an old lady, probably in her late fifties, answered to her knock. The gray haired lady squinted in at her and asked in a deep southern accent, "May I help you?"

"I'm here to see Sam Forster." The lady must have recognized the name because she smiled and called out for Sam. Jenny saw her once best friend descend from the top of the staircase and her jaw literally dropped in shock.

_What the hell happened to Samantha?_

.

"Oh my gosh! Jen!" The fiery redhead hugged Jen so hard that it took her breathe away.

The house owner left the room to give the two friends some privacy. Jen pulled away from the hug first. She took another long look at Sam and asked, "Um, what...what happened to your face?"

The fair skinned girl sighed and pulled Jen over to one of the couches in the living room. They both sat down and it's 'explanation time'.

"Didn't my dad tell you what happened to me?" The blonde shook her head no. "Okay, well a few months ago, I was in a barn fire. I was taking some pictures for a new photography contest and the barn just caught on fire. Apparently, some guy flicked his cigarette in the hay and all hell broke loose! Of course I made it out, just not without some damages."

The Harvard graduate was silent the entire time. She could just picture the scene in her head.

_Sam enjoying the horses and the barn and then suddenly, a fire that scarred her for life._

She looked back at Sam, making sure to just look at her eyes and not the burnt flesh on half of her face. "Well, um, are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine! My 'injuries' bothered me at first, but Miss Defee, the lady that answered the door, helped me get through it. Oh, and Jake has been a _big_ help too."

"Jake?"

"Yeah, he flew all the way to Tennessee to see me after it happened! He hasn't left since." She scratched the top of her slightly burnt ear and continued, "He's at the store right now."

An awkward silence overcame the two girls as Jen processed this information. She was broken out of her thoughts by Sam. "Jake and I were going to go to the park soon. He told me he wanted to talk to me. Do you want to come? He'll be so glad to see you again!"

She could only nod.

.

Sitting on the wooden park bench, she felt at peace. The birds were chirping, the breeze felt so good that day, and it was just perfect. Her _sort of_ friend Jake sat next to her as they watched Sam do cartwheels right in front of everyone in the park.

She was glad that Sam hadn't lost that innocent and childish soul of hers.

Jen's eyes turned to Jake when he spoke. "So what's been going on with you in the last couple of years?

She told Jake of some of the stories of her at Harvard, how busy and loud Massachusetts is, and finally, she got to the hardest part of her life so far. The part where Ryan died.

His face looked shocked. She knew that Jake and Ryan never got along, but even she could see the look of sadness that washed over his face.

.

The quiet afternoon at the park continued until Jen suddenly asked, "Are you and Sam together?"

The black haired, Native American tainted skin guy sighed. "Yeah. Been together since after the accident. I really love her."

"I know. I can see it in your eyes." She smiles and continues, "You two are disgustingly cute in a way."

He smiled his 'signature smile' and continued with, "I'm going to ask her to marry me."

_Well finally._

.

She sat cross legged on the park bench as she watched the sunset. She wasn't paying much attention to it. More like the couple over by the small park pond holding hands. Jenny witnessed the once in a lifetime event of the shy cowboy get down on one knee and pour his heart out to his childhood friend. And she could hear the loud yelp of a surprised, "Yes!"

As the sun finally set, Jennifer Kenworthy finally felt at complete peace.

.

_One day, they are all separated._

_And then the next day, they're together again._


End file.
